Past Event

The 41st Film Noir Series: Lilith

Nov 29 2018

Seattle Art Museum

Plestcheeff Auditorium

7:30 PM – 9:30 PM

Who can sleep when the night is a fever of perfume and gun smoke, the wails of saxophones and police sirens, when acting on impulse is better than a dream? Called “the best series in Seattle film history” by Charles R. Cross, this is the world’s longest-running film noir celebration.

about the film

In the Bible and the Talmud, Lilith is a female demon, a destroyer of men. In film noir femme fatales can be brash and harsh, or as softly seductive as a spider web in a beautiful meadow. A young man (Warren Beatty) with a war-wounded soul returns to his home town. He needs to rediscover who he is and find a purpose in life. Working at a park-like mental hospital, he comes under the spell of Lilith (Jean Seberg), an artistic woman who wants to share her love with the world. But Seberg’s golden aura casts shadows, ensnaring patient Peter Fonda, who touchingly speaks of the life he’ll lead after he’s released. Beatty goes home to sleep at night, but home is where the heart is. Great acting all around, with Beatty trying to gather, and find himself in his pauses and hesitations, and Gene Hackman tense and wonderful in his first film. But Seberg is the sun. With Kim Hunter. 35mm, 114 min.

Other Films in this Series

Thu Sep 27

Thu Oct 4

Thu Oct 25

Thu Nov 1

Thu Nov 8

Thu Nov 15

Thu Nov 29

Thu Dec 6

Series tickets may be purchased online, at the Ticketing Desk at the Seattle Art Museum or over the phone with a credit card by calling the SAM Customer Service Center at 206.654.3210.

A limited number of single-film tickets may be available on a first-come, first-served basis the day of the show, at 7:25 pm, at the auditorium entrance for $9 (cash/check only).

The film series is generously supported by the Bagley and Virginia Wright Endowment and The Brooks and Suzanne Ragen Film and Education Endowment. Additional support provided by David and Catherine Eaton Skinner and Aron Michael Thompson.